


A Brush With Death

by TheLanternWretch



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Brawl - Freeform, Death, Harrowing, fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 20:29:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20103166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheLanternWretch/pseuds/TheLanternWretch
Summary: A Harrowing goes on a little two long and the Kindred pops up to investigate. What they get is a small brawl with the arrogant Chain Warden instead.





	A Brush With Death

The screaming started the minute the Mist was even spotted spilling down the hills into the valley, panic growing and running rampant as beings started to appear from the rolling dark clouds. The people were unprepared as they never had to bother with this certain problem yet. This was usually something that their neighbors south of them dealt with in Bilgewater – they had never had the Mists reach them in Fallgren before. It never made it past the Serpent Isles, not ever. Still, it was very clear what had made itself known the minute a four-legged chimera stepped from the swirling darkness wielding a glaive and gave the signal to start. The Harrowing was upon the villagers and there was nothing they could do to prevent or even stop it.

To the creatures within the blackened hivemind, this was the easiest Harrowing that had been carried out in a good long time. There were no purifiers here, no annoying priestess with a Goddess to back her up, and not a single Demacian or Ionian weapon to hinder their progress. The Noxian blood that ran through the people gave them enough courage to try and fight, grabbing whatever weapons or anything that could double as one, and facing the creatures head-on. The battle was horribly one-sided, as the tools weren’t meant to fight the undead and merely bought them extra seconds before they fell into a crumpled heap. Small, lesser spirits scrambled to the corpses, clawing open the back or chest to get at the soul that was rattling around within the fresh body trying to avoid being taken into the fold of warped monstrosities only to be dragged back into the darkness.

The onslaught lasted for nearly an hour. With nothing to dispel the seemingly endless hoards of creatures, the village was down to the last few of their numbers struggling to try and survive. A small boy, no older than seven, screamed as his father was snared by a nasty-looking heavy curved blade, the sharp and cruel hooked end lodged into his skin. With a rattle of chains, the child’s protector was pulled into the Mist as though he were nothing more than a fish hooked out of a lake. The boy continued to scream as he turned and ran toward the nearest hill where the Mist seemed the thinnest. If he could just make it to the other side of the hill… if only he could run fast enough…

An icy feeling filled him, chilling him down to his very bones, causing his legs to freeze in place. That’s when he heard it – a voice. It was soft, charming, almost quiet. It spoke in a language he could not understand but it was calling to him to come back. The voice trailed off into the melody of a song, one the boy did not recognize. He turned, spell-bound, gazing into the dark clouds that rolled along the ground behind him, thick and suffocating, and found the source of the voice. Some tall, slender figure with its hand out-stretched as if waiting for the child to take his hand, to be led like a sheep back to a flock. Burning cyan blue eyes cut through the dense fog and the singing only grew louder. With a loud gulp, the child took an unsure step away from safety and back toward the lich that was calling to him, asking him to return to where he could hear more of the beautiful music, to be a part of something greater.

_“What do you think, Wolf? I would say his time is up.” _A soft voice asked as a slender figure crested the hill, the white fur seeming to glow in such a gloomy environment, an ornate bow raising and taking careful aim at the child. “_He is already dead but does not know it.”_

_ **“Hurry, Lamb, take him before I or those things do!”**_

A single twang of a bowstring and an arrow of light silently pierced through the veil of darkness and embedded itself into the child’s back. The haze that had started to engulf the child dispelled as the boy crumbled, dead before he even hit the ground. The single soul within him released and was able to escape upwards out of the Mist, no matter how hard little creatures tried to grab it as though something prevented them from snaring it. The small ball of energy dissipated with a small crackle, the light disappearing as the soul crossed over properly. The siren song had stopped as soon as the arrow found its target, the figure backing off and burying itself into the safety of the Mist once more.

“_This has been going on longer than it usually does.” _ Lamb commented, surveying over the valley with the emotionless holes in her mask cutting through the dark with the pinpricks of light that drifted from within them. Her companion, Wolf, hovered behind her, snarling.

“**_Yes, and they’re taking every one of our marks!”_** He snapped his teeth angrily, at an obvious unease and agitated state. “**_Why haven’t they cleared off by now?” _**He further demanded.

“_It seems there’s no one to stop them. That’s unfortunate. Still, we can save a couple more. The more we deny our enemies what they want, the more we hinder them in time. Come, Wolf.”_ After adjusting the grip on her bow, Lamb took off with a leap, springing into the heart of the mists with Wolf following close behind. While they feared nothing, as the undead couldn’t kill death itself, they were still cautious, Wolf snapping at any dumb spirit that got too close. Arrows of light flew as Lamb hunted down each still beating heart about to perish, giving them a painless and peaceful out before being consumed by the ravenous monsters from the Isles.

“**_There’s still one left. It’s very weak!” _**Wolf informed his other half, head perking and ears swiveling toward the edge of the Mist that was wafting between a cluster of trees. “**_We can still get it if we hurry!”_** He took off through the Mist, snapping and biting at little hauntlings that were running around and celebrating their first successful Harrowing. Lamb followed off behind him, gracefully leaping over the bodies of those that they were unable to save, to bring their life to an end with an air of dignity and closure. He was right – there was one left, weak, ready to fall at any second, but one that they can still help cross over. “**_This way, Lamb, I found it!” _**Wolf called, weaving between the legs of some sort of giant monstrous creature; Lamb was close behind, her hand grappling onto the creature’s back as she vaulted herself over it, landing silently on her hooves, her momentum not stopped or slowed in the slightest.

Wolf pointed with his nose at a young woman pulling herself along the ground. Her legs were mangled and broken, trailing along behind her as she wept in terror. It looked as though one of the lesser creatures had gotten to her instead of one of the more prominent figures. Her head raised up, eyes wide, as the vision of the Kindred danced into her sights. The woman cried out in joy as Lamb raised her bow quickly; she was going to die, but a natural death. One where she would cross over and not become one with the hivemind of the Black Mist. Her head dropped as soon as the arrow was released, a quiet prayer of thanks slipping out of her lips before the arrow penetrated through her very being. A single gasp, one final look at the silent figures of Death itself, and her body gave way. The woman hit the ground and expired, a smile on her face as her soul escaped into the ether unharmed.

”_The poor dear. It’s over now._” Lamb cooed softly, her bow still raised as though she didn’t trust her surroundings – she was right not to. The Kindred’s heads snapped to their left and without hesitation, Lamb pulled back the string and let another arrow leave her endless quiver and penetrate the darkness. A clang of metal and a snap of magic gone awry, the blinding white bolt of light appeared to be frozen in the middle of the Mist. “_Come out, you can’t hide from us. We know when someone is eavesdropping.”_

_ **“Or waiting to steal what was rightfully ours!” **_Snapped Wolf as he made an eager circle around his other half before coming to rest alongside her, protective, laying in wait as though ready to spring at anything that dared come too close to the delicate white creature.

“Bold of you to assume I was hiding.” The source of the metallic sound was suddenly more than apparent as a new light source penetrated the blackened clouds; emerald flames flared up, illuminating a warped and fragmented skull and the blaring light of a lantern chained to the wraith followed soon after. His head held high, the Chain Warden stepped out from under the cover of darkness to face the two that had dared to call to him. The shimmering white arrow that had been shot into the dense shade and haze burned brightly wedged into the chain-like armor harness that adorned the specter’s chest. “You almost had me.” Thresh commented with a hint of sarcasm as he reached up to snatch the arrow up in his hand and wrench it out of its resting spot. At the very touch of his hand curling around it, the beautiful and pure white appeared to grow tainted, losing its brilliance until it started to crumble like dust and dull to an unremarkable color of darkened ash.

“If only you could do something about me, that might have actually been a lethal shot.” He continued, opening his fingers and letting the remaining soot-like dust fall and flutter through the air, scattering onto the ground and disappearing into the dirt.

_“Consider it a warning should you step out of bounds, wraith.”_ Lamb threatened, her bow still raised, the string already pulled back and taut, ready to launch another arrow or a whole volley in his direction should he even look at them the wrong way.

“I have a name and I know you know it. Use it.” He snapped.

“_If it was a name worth using, I would. However, it’s as meaningless as your purpose.” _

Wolf gave a rough chuckle, his voice more grating and snarlier than a true laugh, as if Lamb’s response was the funniest thing he’s heard in the past few minutes. “**_Oh, isn’t she funny? Look, you’re smiling at that, too.” _**He jeered, his ears perking at the ever-grinning skull of Thresh.

“Now, now, no need to be so impolite. No one likes having their name incorrectly spoken, right, my sweet Kindred and Wolf?” The monster shrugged, indicating at Lamb and ignoring the vigilant Wolf next to her coming to a halt and looking disgruntled.

“_My name is Lamb, not Kindred. Together we are Kindred, never one without-“ _

Thresh leaned over to peer down at the small figure still a good distance away from him. “I don’t care. You are what I call you. See? Annoying, isn’t it.” He drops the subject, their silence and the sense of agitation drifting from the two of them a sign that he made his point clear. “So, what brings you to this Harrowing? Usually you don’t show up, yet here you are, competing for scraps with the hauntlings and ghouls.” He stood back up, straightening his back and idly investigating the edge of his sickle with false interest, running an iron finger over the edge to hear the singing sound of metal sliding over metal. He didn’t seem to notice or even care he was in the crosshairs of death’s aim.

“_We came because this was going on far too long. Your mindless hunts usually have ended by now. Too many of our marks have been taken too soon, too many that we cannot ignore.” _Lamb explained coolly, one of her fingers popping up off the curve of the bow, checking her aim at the undead skeletal creature.

“**_We can’t ignore the amount taken from us. Not this time. We came to hunt them before you could.”_** Wolf restated a little more gruffly, baring spectral teeth. Thresh began to walk, skimming the outside of the Mist at the very edge slowly, not even looking at them and instead continuing to focus on his blade. With a snarl, Wolf swiveled to follow him, keeping himself between his precious Lamb and the notorious Thresh at all times.

“Ah, here I thought you were coming to join our ranks. I was almost hopeful. Almost.” The Warden lets the handle of his wickedly curved blade go, the weight pulling it forward. He snatched up the chain and let it dangle experimentally from his hand – the movement was practiced but looked like he was fidgeting and nothing more.

“_You know that’s impossible. We can never fall into such a disgraced state. You cannot kill death.”_

“Well, one can always try, right?” His movement was quick, like a rattlesnake snapping at an unsuspecting leg. His arm took a powerful swing, the broad curve of the sickle embedding itself into the stones and earth where Lamb had been standing. Gracefully, she leapt out of the way, releasing a rapid stream of arrows at the attacking wraith with a calm but determined manner. The bolts of light embedded themselves deep into his bicep and shoulder. He hissed, but he didn’t drop. “Ahh, I forgot how fast you were.” He reached up and started snapping the radiant white arrows out of him, each one turning into dust as the first one did.

“_I am fast enough to keep up to those who think they can run.”_ Lamb’s response rang clear as a bell as she put distance between the two of them, her gait less graceful as she hopped backwards on her hooves.

“Who’s running, dear? I’m right here.” Thresh cackled, yanking the curved blade out of the ground.

“**_She’s talking about you, bonehead.” _**Wolf barked. “**_All undead are running from us.”_**

“Are we? Or are you just upset that we have no life to cull?” He accused boldly, his weapon hanging from the chain enclosed in his fist yet again. Only this time, he let it start swinging back and forth, gathering momentum to keep it limber and ready to go within an instant. “What does it feel like? Being death and knowing there are just some things you can’t kill? Must be frustrating.” He started approaching them again, his head lowered, his concentration and aim rivaling the bipedal archer in front of him.

“_To say we aren’t frustrated would be a lie. But we wait. We wait patiently for the day when the veil around the Isles fall and we can cross over.” _

_ “**That will be the greatest hunt of all! Ooh, Lamb, we have so many to take! Him, the angry horse, the preacher who slipped through our claws more times than we can count; I am even excited about that poor monk that hopes to meet us very soon!” **_The abyssal-looking Wolf shook his head in glee, getting excited at the very idea of raiding the Isles and striking each and every undead down, one by one. The idea of a free-for-all for him while Lamb helped was more than enticing.

With an annoyed groan, Thresh practically rolled his non-existent eyes. “Please, you couldn’t cross through it yet, what makes you think you can cross over it now? We only grow stronger with each Harrowing, with each soul we add! We have immortality and we will strike down each and every living mortal that continues to live.” The blade was no longer swaying back and forth but was being spun in a circle, the wavering and sharp sound of the blade cutting through the air audible.

“_But what to do when there’s no one else left to slaughter?” _Lamb wondered out loud, letting herself a satisfied huff when Thresh seemed loss for a quick come-back. “_Oh, how I wish I could be the one to strike you down when that time comes, but I’m afraid you’re not my mark. You’ve been hunted by Wolf since you were a mortal, and even now, he follows your scent. He follows each and every one of you.” _She simply states, her words careless and biting. “_I cannot wait to witness that hunt when it happens._” Wolf gave a hearty barking laugh, shaking his head wildly at the mere suggestion of such a hunt.

“**_And what a day that will be! What a HUNT!”_** He yelled gleefully, making an excited lap around Lamb wildly.

Thresh shook his head in disbelief. “Please. Those are fantasies you’ll never realize because you can’t touch me. Not then, not now, and not ever. We grow stronger with each raid and if you couldn’t handle me before, then what is your plan?” He challenged, stepping fully from the mist and into the space between the two of them. A distant call from within the mist warns him not to approach, to fall back, but he ignored the command. He wasn’t afraid of any purifier, any God, not even Death itself. Metal jangled threateningly as he approached the two of them, his blade at the ready and his lantern blaring in full glory.

“**_Ha! Lamb, look, it’s trying to be brave! It’s trying to pretend it’s not afraid!”_**

** ** _“For someone who feeds off of it, you think he’d know how to hide it better. Yet, you can see him flinch every time he thinks he hears you howl.”_

_ “**He knows he’s being hunted. He doesn’t like it. No one ever does.”**_

**_ “_**I’m right here, you know, I’m hearing every lying word you two are exchanging!” The wraith snapped. It seemed that something in there struck a nerve, causing his anger to continue to rise as his need to fight. Again, another call echoed from inside the mist, commanding Thresh to return, to not engage the Kindred, but it fell on deaf ears. He was too focused on the two in front of him, mocking him, insinuating that he was nothing more than a coward hiding behind undeath. “If you’re looking for a brawl, congratulations, you found it.” He hissed before dashing forward, pressing off the dirt with the front of his greaves. The speed at which he moved for being such a large and hulking figure was enough to silence Wolf and refocus Lamb.

Streaks of white light shot through the air and embedded themselves deep into the wraith’s chest as his blade met teeth, Wolf clamping down onto the wicked sickle that had been whipped in his direction. Undeterred, Thresh grabbed onto the chain and started to reel Wolf in, ignoring the throbbing pain from the unearthly arrows between his ribs, cackling as an unseen force opposed his own. Not wanting to give up what he caught, Wolf snarled and continued to try to tug backwards, Lamb moving quickly and circling to try and get a better shot at the Warden. “_Ha!” _Another volley of arrows pierced through the air, though they were not as lucky as the first few had been. The lantern clicked open without hesitation, sacrificing some of the souls from within to create a barrier. The shots of light hit the green haze and crumbled to ash, their tips never finding their target. Thresh, meanwhile, had pulled Wolf close enough that he could practically feel his breath on his hands. Wolf finally let go and made a furious snap at his face only to be assaulted by a metal fist punching him clear across the snout. The phantom yelped, backing up and wiggling his nose – he couldn’t remember the last time someone was able to accomplish something as bold as that.

With her aggressive guardian temporarily stunned, Thresh turned toward the archer. “Go ahead! Fire another shot! It won’t do anything!” He roared, crouching down and scooping up his blade by the handle and closed the distance between the two of them. Lamb quickly raised her bow over her head as Thresh brought his weapon down upon her. A loud clang echoed through the clearing as the blade met bow, Lamb grunting and holding onto the bow over her head while he bared his weight down on her, trying to force her arms to buckle.

“_What are you hoping to accomplish?” _She snapped. “_You cannot kill us either.”_

“No, but I can prove a point.” He replied, lifting his leg and slamming his heel into the dark mask, kicking her away. Lamb yelped, the bow slipping from her hands as she stumbled backwards.

“_Damn!” _She hissed, catching her footing and readjusting the mask that had been knocked askew. Defiant, Thresh brought a foot down onto the bow, pinning it against the earth before turning around to face Wolf as he heard a furious roar behind him.

“**_HOW DARE YOU. DON’T TOUCH HER. DON’T EVER TOUCH HER-“ _**Wolf howled, snapping his jaws and going straight for the kill, aiming at what should have been Thresh’s neck. Instead, his jaw was met with two large iron hands grappling them, keeping them apart and away from his spectral body. The wraith laughed cruelly, bending at the knees and enjoying the feeling of opposing death head on, to get at least two good hits in on them.

“Aww, what’s the matter, dog? Does it hurt to see your little sheep defenseless?” The Chain Warden questioned him, soaking up the agitation and anger that radiated off of the phantom-like wolf that was trying to bring his jaws down upon him. “She is nothing without her bow.”

Lamb, meanwhile, made a mad dash to the side, eyeing the two of them. Wolf had him distracted and if he thought she was nothing without a weapon… The small white figure ran behind Wolf, grabbing onto what constituted as his tail and pulled herself up, running on top of his long, dark back. “_NOW, WOLF.” _Obediently, Wolf stopped struggling and pulled back just in time for her to leap, bringing her hooves down upon the wraith’s skull-like face with a loud crack. It worked – the specter made an unearthly noise of surprise and anger as he stumbled back from the impact and momentum. With a graceful flip, Lamb landed and snatched her bow back, spinning and aiming directly at him again.

She readies her shot before letting a single arrow fly. Her aim was true and despite trying to move out of the way, it buried itself right into his chest, right where a heart should have been. He howled, grappling at it and hissing. “_You are outnumbered, Thresh. No one is foolish enough to oppose us like you are. You stand alone, and that reckless behavior will be what ends you, someday.” _Another voice called from the mist, an angrier one that was much closer than the others had been, demanding Thresh stopped acting like an idiot and to return into the safety of the swirling darkness.

“_Go on, your family is calling you. Leave this place – you’re done here.” _Lamb ordered, already aiming another arrow from her endless quiver. “_Unless you want Wolf to carry out his hunt right here. You are not completely invulnerable; we will find a way to finish you off.”_

“NO. I will NOT run, not from you-!” The monster snarled, tearing out each glistening arrow still stuck in his chest. The lantern at his side flared up in warning, but whether it was for the Kindred or the one it was tethered to was unclear. “I’m not afraid!”

“**_You’ve been afraid of us since you were a pup.”_** Interjected Wolf, licking his teeth. “**_We remember a young child who was terrified of stories about us, of knowing he would someday die.”_**

** _ “_ ** _For someone who has killed so many, you think you’d realize you can’t run forever. We will be there when you finally fall.”_

Thresh didn’t even try to defend the accusations, but instead gave an angry bellow like a bull and started to move toward them again, dead set on making them fear _him_, to wipe the unseen smug smiles off their covered faces, to eliminate that elitist attitude from them. He had only just started to run when a large figure burst from the mist with a horrible noise of metal and hooves. The Shadow of War galloped to intercept the spited wraith, grabbing him by the back of his coat. His wild eyes blazed through the holes in the helmet as he eyed up the Kindred with a sense of fear and rare relenting rage. Without a word, Hecarim reared back before running back into the swirling darkness, pulling Thresh with him until the two disappeared.

Minutes later, the air started to move as the dark haze started to leave and dissipate, little creatures struggling to try and get back into the mist before it was gone.

“**_What a fool. If it weren’t for one of his own, he would have kept trying to kill what he could not.” _**

_“It’s sad when one fears death to the point where they think they can best it.” _Lamb lowered her bow, finally, as movement returned to the area, and the starlight was visible once again. “_I look forward to the day we can finally break through the veil and cull every single one of them off that island.” _She admitted.

“**_I still get to eat him, right, Lamb?” _**Wolf whined, nuzzling against her like a dog begging for scraps.

“_Of course. Him and every other lost soul that runs.” _She gently put her bow between her knees to hold as she lovingly pet and tossed Wolf’s face in her hands. “_What do you think, shall we continue our own hunt until then?” _She was met with a playful snap of jaws and a flicker of long ears. They turned to look at the direction that the mist had disappeared before they both seemed to disappear within a blink of an eye with only a small gust of wind as Death moved on.


End file.
